Surfing- Counter Culture

1501 WordsDec 13, 20107 Pages

In order to successfully understand the inexplicable surfer’s lifestyle as a counter-culture to main society, we must first have a greater knowledge of the ingredients that make this culture so different in the views of the social norm. A counter-culture as described by Professor Chad Smith in the second week of class is, “When subcultures specially stand in direct opposition to the dominant culture of the society in which they are located, rejecting it’s most important values and norms and endorsing their opposites.” As surfers began to express themselves more and more freely throughout the 1950’s and 1960’s, the surfing sub-culture that was portrayed by the media, with retrospect to Gidget and Beach Part, began to diminish in the eyes of…show more content…

They would create little gimmicks that would further classify themselves as authentic and a bizarre breed. The “Brown-eye” became a common sight to be seen around beach cities and surf spots, as surfers would intentionally pull down their trunks and show their backsides to fellow surfers and the onshore crowd. This however spread to the inter cites and by “1959 & 1960 in beach towns and the L.A basin, cars passing by with a youth’s bare posterior framed in the side window were a common sight” (Irwin 22). Although their attitude was indeed a huge aspect in labeling the surf community as a counter-culture, it did not stop there. Their personal image changed as they began to dress in a way unconventional to society thus creating a distinction from others. Now at this point of the paper, we need to look at another view of the surf counter-culture in order to examine both sides of its complexity. Kristin Lawler believes that the thriving capitalism that came post WWII had a huge effect on the growth and direction in which the surfing counter-culture took place. “The counter-culture of the 1960s was welcomed by capitalist, who had already been getting pretty hip and countercultural themselves” (Lawler 6). With the surfing community identified as rebels to surrounding society, capitalism saw a need to supply these groups of radical individualists with products that were suitable to their lifestyle. She states

Surfing The Internet
Michael LaCroix Eng 101 Dr. Sonnchein 4/10/96
Chances are, anyone who is reading this paper has at one time, at least, surfed
the net once. Don't worry if you haven't, I will explain everything you need to
know about the Internet and the World Wide Web. Including how it started, it's
growth, and the purpose it serves in today's society.
The Internet was born about 20 years ago, as a U.S. Defense Department network
called the ARPnet. The ARPnetwork was an experimental network

that comes with being human. However, there are general patterns to the motivation behind the computer hacker's drive to manipulate technology. The problem of hacker motivation is probably one of the more interesting questions concerning this sub-culture (Hacker-Bible, 1995).
Hackers rarely use information to gain wealth. This is not considered socially acceptable. Carding (using stolen credit card numbers for profit) is &quot;poison to the underground,&quot; and &quot;doesn't make one a hacker,

When you think of surfing what comes to mind? Is it &amp;#8220;yo dude,'; or the beauty of a majestic wave breaking on the shore with the sun setting on the horizon? Surfers today receive very little respect for the sport, sometimes referred to as an art, that they participate in. Despite what most people think, the surfers are a rare breed let alone the soul surfer. However if you believe that surfers are just a bunch of beer drinking, marijuana smoking, partygoers then you have something coming

But it was not necessarily just the youth of the day that were part of this social rejection.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“The last half of the 1960’s saw the emergence of seemingly new cultures among young people, which were promptly collapsed under the label youth culture by adults. Even so, these cultures were neither entirely novel, nor limited to young people, nor so homogeneous as to be described by one label.” (Grans, Comparative Analysis)
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Part of what made

The dynamics of counter-culture, and its ramifications for advertising and consumer culture, have practically been disregarded in the consumer research findings. This really is barely shocking as these days the term may seem to be over-loaded and also anachronistic, a throwback to exactly what some explain as the lost angst of the 1960s (Holt 70). Our fascination with revisiting counter-culture at this time is not encouraged by nostalgia, but by an inspiration it offers substantial modern importance

Surfing
Surfing has been a sport enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of people around the world. It originated in Polynesian culture as a religious ceremony mainly practiced by the royalty. Having been introduced from the Hawaiian Islands roughly 60 years ago, it has become a common practice in virtually every coastal beach break throughout the USA and numerous places around the globe. When one goes surfing there are three basic stages that are repeated in a surf session: getting out to the

Causes of the Counter-Culture
As the 1950’s rolled along and the 1960’s came into effect, the world was thrown into a topspin that would soon define every generation of youths. As the trends changed and the music got more complex a deeper metamorphosis was taking place inside every city and every person. To develop a counterculture in the 1960’s there had to be new ideas circulating that were counter-norm. These ideas were not developed right away for any one reason, though

Today surfing is a multi-billion dollar industry. It has been taken up on every continent on Earth. There have been waves surfed that were created by the breaking of an arctic glacier. China has built an indoor wave pool a thousand miles from the closest ocean that perfectly simulates a real breaking wave. People are finding ways to surf by any means necessary. Anyone that has ever picked up a board and paddled into a break owes that experience not only to the ancient pioneers that created the

The counter culture of the 1920’s has affected the way the American lifestyle is today. Counter culture is a culture that primarily consists of younger people, with values and lifestyles opposing those of the original established culture. (Dictionary.com) A need for change. The 1920’s are also known as the “Jazz Age,” which was coined by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and the “Roaring Twenties.” It was a decade of change. (Hakim, 41) The counterculture of the 1920’s resulted from the Age of Jazz, Flappers

1960's Counter Culture and its Saga
After the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, America's hope for Camelot fades and life began to look a little more complicated. Congress deemed President Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society" implausible as Johnson backed the country into a war that was not ours. Then, while many Americans began to realize that the War in Vietnam could not be won, there was major public outcry about ending our involvement in a war for the first time in the country's